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Frances Browne
| birth_place = Stranorlar, Donegal, Ireland | death_date = August | death_place = Richmond upon Thames, London, England }} Frances Browne (January 16, 1816 - August 21, 1879) was an Irish poet and novelist, best remembered for her collection of short stories for children, Granny's Wonderful Chair. Life Youth Browne was born at Stranorlar, in Donegal, Ireland, the 7th child in a family of 12 children. She was blind from infancy as a consequence of an attack of smallpox when she was only 18 months old. In her writings, she recounts how she learned by heart the lessons which her brothers and sisters said aloud every evening, and how she bribed them to read to her by doing their chores. She then worked hard at memorising all that she had heard. She wrote her first poem, a version of 'The Lord's Prayer', when she was seven years of age. First publications In 1841, her first poems were published in the Irish Penny Journal and in the London Athenauem. One of those included in the Irish Penny Journal was the beautiful lyric, "Songs of Our Land" which can be found in many anthologies of Irish patriotic verse. She published a complete volume of poems in 1844, and a second volume in 1847. The provincial newspapers, especially the Belfast-based Northern Whig, reprinted many of her poems and she became widely known as 'The Blind Poetess of Ulster'. In 1845 she made her first contribution to the popular magazine Chambers's Journal and she wrote for this journal for the next 25 years. The first short story that she had published in the Journal was entitled, "The Lost New Year's Gift". It appeared in March 1845 and tells the tragic tale of a poor dressmaker in London. It displays Frances Browne's fine abilities as a storyteller. Emigration to Edinburgh In 1847, she left Donegal for Edinburgh with one of her sisters as her reader and amanuensis. She quickly established herself in literary circles, and wrote essays, reviews, stories, and poems, in spite of health problems. In 1852, she moved to London, where she wrote her first novel, My Share of the World (1861). Her most famous work, Granny's Wonderful Chair, was published in 1856 and it is still in print to this day. It is a richly imaginative book of fairy stories and has been translated into many languages. It was also in 1856 that her 3d volume of poetry appeared, Pictures and Songs of Home. It is a slim volume of poems directed at very young children and contains beautiful illustrations. As the title suggests, the poems focus on her childhood experiences in County Donegal and are very evocative of the Donegal countryside. London and later life After her move to London she wrote for the Religious Tract Society, making many contributions to their periodicals The Leisure Hour and The Sunday at Home. One of these was "1776: a tale of the American War of Independence" which was printed in The Leisure Hour on the centenary of that event in 1876. As well as describing some of the revolutionary events it is also a touching love story and is beautifully illustrated. She died unmarried at 19 St John's Grove in Richmond-upon-Thames on 21 August 1879 and was buried in the town's public cemetery on 25 August. Recognition The most detailed biography available is "The Life and Works of Frances Browne" by Patrick Bonar published in 2007. There is also an analysis of some of her short stories in an article in the Donegal Annual for 2009 ("Frances Browne and the Legends of Ulster," by Raymond Blair). There is an excellent treatment of her literary career by Paul Marchbanks in An A-to-Z of Irish Women Writers, edited by A G Gonzalez (2006). Finally, a brief entry about the poetess can be found in the magisterial Dictionary of Irish Biography recently published under the auspices of the Royal Irish Academy. Therefore, it would appear that the fame of the undeservedly forgotten blind poetess is being gradually restored. Publications Poetry *''The Star of Attéghéi, the Vision of Schwartz, and other poems. London: Edward Moxon, 1844. * ''Lyrics and miscellaneous poems. Edinburgh: Sutherland and Knox / London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1848. Fiction * Pictures and Songs of Home. London: Nelson, 1856; London, Edinburgh, & New York: Nelson, 1861. * The Young Foresters. London: Groombridge, 1864. * The Orphans of Elfholm (printed in Magnet Stories, 1860, etc.). London: Groombridge, 1864 * The Castleford Case (3 volumes), London: Hurst & Blackett, 1862. Volume I, * The Hidden Sin: A novel. (3 volumes), London: Richard Bentley, 1866; (1 volume), New York: Harper, 1866. ''Volume I, * ''The Exile's Trust: A tale of the French Revolution; and other stories. London: Leisure Hour, 1869 * My Nearest Neighbour, and other stories. London: Religious Tract Society, 1875 * The Foundling of the Fens: A story of a flood. London: Religious Tract Society, 1886. Non-fiction * My Share of the World: An autobiography (3 volumes), London: Hurst & Blackett, 1861. Juvenile * [https://archive.org/details/ericksonsclever00browgoog Two Stories for my Young Friends: The Ericksons & The Clever Boy, or Consider another]. Edinburgh: Paton & Ritchie, 1852. * Granny's Wonderful Chair, and Its tales of fairy times (illustrated by Kenny Meadows). London : Griffith and Farran, 1857 ** (illustrated by Marie Seymour Lucas). London & Sydney: Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh, 1891 **(with introduction by Frances Hodgson Burnett, entitled, The Story of the Lost Fairy Book). New York: McClure, Phillips, 1904 ** (illustrated by Dora Curtis). London: [[J.M. Dent] / New York: E.P. Dutton (Everyman's Library), 1906. * Our Uncle the Traveller's Stories. London: W. Kent, 1859. *''The Stolen Voyage''. London: W. Kent, 1860. *''The Dangerous Quest: A story of 1745''. London: Religious Tract Society, 1886. * The First of the African Diamonds. London: Religious Tract Society, 1887. ** (illustrated by Seymour Lucas), 1891; 1900; *''Two Little Travellers: A story for girls''. London: Nelson, 1903. *''The Secret of the Cedar Rose: A story for children''. London: J.W. Butcher, 1909. Collected editions *''The Best of Frances Browne: Poems, stories, and essays'' (edited by Raymond Blair). Limavady, UK: Rathmore Books, 2012. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Frances Browne, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Nov. 21, 2013. See also *Blind poets *List of Irish poets References External links ;Poems *"Autumn" *Frances Browne at PoemHunter (3 poems) *Frances Browne at Poetry Nook (3 poems) ;Prose *[http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=browne&book=chair&story=_contents Complete text of Granny's Wonderful Chair] ;Books * *Bibliography of Frances Browne's works ;About *Biography of Frances Brown, from the Preface to Granny's Wonderful Chair *Frances Browne: Novelist, journalist, and poetess, by Patrick Blair Category:1816 births Category:1887 deaths Category:Blind people Category:Irish poets Category:Irish novelists Category:Women novelists Category:Irish women writers Category:Women poets Category:People from County Donegal Category:19th-century Irish people Category:Irish short story writers Category:19th-century poets Category:Poets Category:blind poets Category:English-language poets Category:19th-century women writers